AHSAA Mourns Death Of Carroll-Ozark Coach Watters
Head football coach Stacy Watters of Carroll High School in Ozark and his 10-year-old son Quentin were killed Thursday morning in an automobile/truck accident in Orlando, Fla. His other son Jai, 9, was transported to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando and is listed in critical condition.
Both children attended Watters’ alma mater, Southern Choctaw in Gilbertown. Watters and his sons had just returned from a cruise and were on their way home at the time of the crash, according to published reports.
“This news certainly saddens us all,” AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said Thursday afternoon. “Coach Watters was an energetic young coach who was making a difference in young people’s lives. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, his team, Carroll and Southern Choctaw schools and we pray God will sustain them all during this difficult time.”
Watters, 38, was hired as head football coach at Carroll last year after seven years at Sumter County High School. He coached the 2009-10 school year at Twiggs County, Ga., and spent the 2010-11 year as an assistant at Linden, which posted a 12-2 record and reached the Class 1A playoff semifinals.
After the Carroll team had struggled to a 1-9 record in 2010, he quickly energized the program and the Eagles improved to 3-7 in his first season (2011) and narrowly missed the playoffs with a 3-4 region record.
According to a report in The Dothan Eagle, students, teachers, counselors, pastors and other residents have been gathering at Carroll all day, many of whom will be involved with graduation Thursday night. Carroll senior football players plan to wear their jerseys under their graduation gowns and all seniors ribbons on their gowns in Watters’ memory.